Maxtor to slash 700 jobs in Singapore

Asian Economic News, June 23, 2001

SINGAPORE, June 22 Kyodo

U.S.-based hard disk drive maker Maxtor Corp. announced Friday it was immediately laying off about 700 workers at two factories in Singapore due to slumping demand for hard drives.

The job cuts, which affect mainly production workers, are believed to be the biggest in Singapore this year.

Nearly 6,000 Maxtor workers will remain in Singapore after the layoffs, a spokeswoman said.

The company said in a statement that the layoffs are part of restructuring measures after last April's merger with Quantum HDD, another leading hard disk drive maker, which made Maxtor the world's largest hard disk drive manufacturer based on unit shipments.

It also cited ''weaker than expected demand for hard drives.''

Maxtor announced Thursday at its headquarters in Milpitas, California, that it anticipates a further reduction of 700 to 800 employees in the United States over the next six months in addition to the 530-odd positions eliminated at the time of the merger.

Before the Singapore layoffs, the merged company employed a worldwide workforce of approximately 10,500.

Maxtor manufactures its products through its own unique cell-based manufacturing facility in Singapore and through a long-term relationship with Japan's Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries Ltd. at its highly-automated facility, also in Singapore.